Billy Joe Shaver is one of the stewards of the “outlaw country” movement that came out of Texas in the 1970s. His unique contribution to the sub-genre is set to be celebrated in an impending tribute album, which sees some of the top names in country and Americana saluting the late singer.
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Among those set to contribute to the album are Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert, George Strait, Nathaniel Rateliff, Rodney Crowell, and Margo Price. The album, Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver, will arrive on November 11. You can pre-order it HERE.
The other contributing artists include a mix of Shaver’s contemporaries and younger artists like Amanda Shires, Allison Russell, Edie Brickell, and Ryan Bingham with Nikki Lane.
Nelson put his spin on the title track “Live Forever” with Lucinda Williams on harmony vocals. Check it out below.
Charlie Sexton, a Texas recording artist, has produced the project alongside Austin-based producer Freddy Fletcher. Fletcher is a member of the extended Nelson family and was a close working associate of Shavers for 50 years.
“We were just dear friends, you know,” says Fletcher, as reported by Variety. “And a few years before he passed, he just asked me, ‘Hey, if something ever happens to me, make my music live.’ And I said, ‘You got it, buddy.’ But I would’ve done this anyway.”
Shaver died of a stroke in 2020 at age 81. Although he ran in the same “outlaw country” circles as Nelson and Waylon Jennings, he never received the same mainstream success as they did. He found his greatest success being covered by other artists. His songs were cut by the likes of Elvis Presley, Tom T. Hall, Kris Kristofferson, Bobby Bare, Robert Duvall, and Jennings—who cut an entire album of Shaver tracks in 1973, Honky Tonk Heroes.
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